Meghan Connolly, 23, of Walpole, said she never gave a though to leaving UMD. "The school's reputation wasn't tarnished. It's still a great school," she said.

And Nicholas Krackovic, 18, a freshman from Spencer who is studying bio-engineering, was adamant. "I'm not going to blame the school for one student's individual actions."

Bianka Durham, 21, agreed. "I guess people might say it's that school the terrorist went to but he could've gone anywhere," Durham now lives in Tsarnaev's former dorm.

The majority of students interviewed insisted that whether people talk about it or not, one thing is clear: the events of April 2013 brought them closer.

Vikki Thomas, 22, recalled being evacuated just before a women's rugby game in Rhode Island.

"We couldn't even get our stuff but entire rugby teams came together to help us out with equipment. We wore boys' jerseys," she said. "It was really nice for the other teams to reach out to us and overall, I think we really banded together."

Since the bombings, students have organized fundraisers, vigils, a torch relay, and the campus has been flooded with the familiar blue and gold "UMass Dartmouth Strong" pins, flags and One Fund wristbands.

David Milstone, associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs, said it is important to have "comprehensive, thoughtful" community events where students can connect "after the turmoil last year."

Milstone said it gives them a chance to think about "why we are here" and "what's really important."

Indeed, in the past year, UMass Dartmouth students have dedicated more than 195,063 hours to community service, officials said.

They are also remembering those who lost their lives or whose lives were forever changed by the bombings.

Earlier this month, students were signing a giant canvas painted blue and gold. It will be UMass Dartmouth's section of "Prayer Canvas: America 4 Boston," a grassroots project to honor the Boston Marathon bombing victims, survivors and the city. The complete 19,000 square foot project will be displayed at Boston Commons and at Fenway Park for a Red Sox game this coming week.

Student Michael DiBenedetto was among those signing the canvas, in his case with an elaborate sketch. He was on campus when the bombing happened last year and said, "It was a stressful situation."

"People misunderstand. People do many things. That's how the world is. Hopefully we can get over it," he said. "This makes me feel good. I am very happy we are doing this."

UMass Student Trustee Colin Murphy staffed a table collecting donations for the "Run For Krystle" scholarship fund in memory of Krystle Campbell, a UMass Boston student, one of the three victims of the marathon bombings.

The fund was started with a donation from UMass Trustee Richard Campbell, who, like Krystle, attended Medford High School and worked long hours to pay his way to UMass Boston.

"I think it's most important for the UMass system to show solidarity," Murphy said.

UMass Dartmouth student Dennise Famania, 22, said she was watching the news last April when she got the first campuswide alert via a text message.

This April, Famania was busy selling yellow and blue bracelets to raise money for the Boston One Fund at campus event to mark the Boston Red Sox home opener.

Robin Brow, on the Campus Center Activities Committee that planned the event, said "We felt it was important this time of year with the anniversary of what happened in Boston to have some campus pride and also celebrate the Boston Red Sox opening day."

Student government representative Jacob Miller, 20, who is a blogger for The Standard-Times and helped organize the Corsairs Care movement on campus, said students and the campus have remained positive.

"The campus has really responded well," Miller said. "It was one individual. I don't think one individual can define any organization and we've been moving ahead positively since."

For Associate Vice Chancellor Milstone, the anniversary of "this horrific event" is a chance for the university to "pause and recommit ourselves to our value of helping our members and neighbors."

It is also a time to "remember that the collective positive actions of our community reflects who we really are as an institution," he said in an email.

Looking back at how UMass Dartmouth dealt with what happened, Chancellor Divina Grossman said "We could not have done it better than we did."

With national and international media camped out on Ring Road for days, university spokesman John Hoey said his phone literally rang off the hook, 24/7.

The only thing he would have done differently, he said, was to have enlisted other UMass staff to help in dealing with the media crush. Overall, however, "It worked out well," he said.

Hoey said the university has received accolades for the way it handled the situation and has been contacted by many other schools seeking to update their campus safety protocols.

At national conferences across the country, Grossman said she heard from several university presidents who have been "very impressed" with UMass Dartmouth's response.

And parents remain comfortable in entrusting their most precious assets, their children, to UMass Dartmouth.

"I think that families and the community realize that this could've happened anywhere," Grossman said. "People know this was an unforeseen and unforeseeable event."

Two student athletes from UMass Dartmouth will be among the participants in this year's Boston Marathon.

The UMass system has a fundraising goal of $60,000. Selling RunForKrystle T-shirts at the Carney Library Wednesday, Laurencelle and Karstunen said they were marathon volunteers last year along with a group of other UMass Dartmouth athletes. They were on their way back to campus when the bombs went off.

"It was just very shocking that something like that could happen," Laurencelle said.

Asked if they had any hesitations about running in this year's marathon, both said no.

"We have some of the best cops and firefighters in the world so I feel pretty safe," Karstunen said. "I think there's going to be a lot of support. It's going to be exhilarating."

Said Laurencelle, "We are really focused on just running the course rather than on what happened. I just want to embrace it, enjoy it and run.

"I think this marathon will be very special because we are running in honor of someone."

Staff Writer Curt Brown contributed to this story.

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